Ok, they aren't edited yet, so sorry if you see Monkey Junk. Photos include 2 bottlenosed Dolphins, a 10 foot boa constrictor, Howler Monkeys (including a dominant male showing off his Monkey Business), sea crocs, bats, many species of birds and fresh jaguar prints in the wild. Enjoy the many unedited photos of me without makeup as well. With 90% humidity at 86 degrees F, not much incentive to break out cosmetics beyond the sunscreen and bug spray.

the nature was amazing. I'm glad I went although I won't be back. Can you believe how many beautiful animals I saw and also how BARE the beach was? This is the high tourist season and it's just remote.

There were not too many guests. South Belize isn't that touristy yet. Partly because it's just weird. I mean, the lodging is affordable, but the food is like $20 US for a crappy meal that doesn't taste great and takes 1.5 hours. The people selling stuff will not barter or lower their price. They would rather not sell than lower the price in many instances. It's very strange. It is nothing like Mexico.

The Garafuna people were super friendly, but the Creole people were coldly polite, like they barely tolerated tourists and there weren't many of us at all, so it was kind of strange. As a vacation it was a weird experience.

Getting back to the US it was awesome how good the food is, the service, and generally the hustle attitude people have. Belize just isn't like that. Our favorite places to go in Belize were businesses NOT owned by Belizian natives. So, for example, we loved the Gelato place run by an Italian family and the Austrian dinner we had by a couple who had moved there from Sydney Australia (after living in Vienna where they were born). They talked to us, made us feel welcome, gave us a great product, and it was a good experience. For locals, our guide for the Monkey River was awesome, but our other guide was so terrible he lost every tourist. They are a new country (only independent 35 years) and I think that they just don't really have the tourism thing down yet. Honestly, if I did go back I'd want to do more good, like help kids or have it be a charity mission, not go back as a tourist. My next beach vacation will be back to Isla Mujeres, Mexico. If it's relaxation I'm after, and the best beach vaca, I have to give it to anywhere in Mexico over the best beach in Belize, and that's WITH all of the peaceful solitude and amazing nature that you can't see anywhere else.

Wow! Amazing. If you go back you MUST at least snorkel. I've been snorkelling many places but NONE more amazing than right off the coast of Cancun. Even though Belize has better coral reef, the fish are huge and you feel like you are tiny inside of a huge aquarium off of that coast.

I've never seen that. The jungle tour was SO cool! it was the best birthday gift ever from my Mom. She paid for the tour and it was just amazing! I loved it. Our guide was the best he could have been too. He knew every single animal you could imagine.

Re: Anthony Bourdain

We were into Man vs. Wild, but he just kills so many animals pointlessly and we get tired of that. Bear is a real psycho and I'm glad he's channeling his energy that way rather than killing people, but still, a bit too extreme. I HAVE seen No Reservations. Awesome show! thanks for the link. Now I remember. :)

That is so sweet since these pics aren't edited and we were at a lack of makeup during the trip, but thank you. I love my Mom and she really is the most beautiful person inside of anyone I know. I aspire to someday be as good of a person as she is. She radiates love and positivity in person just so much so that kids love her and feel instantly comforted around her.

*hugs* It's great to be home even though I sorta wrecked my car today. (seriously). I'll write about that later.

We need more of my Mom around. Seriously, every family should have one person as awesome as she is, standard issue.

I ran my stupid car into a fire extinguisher box in the garage at work while parking and dented it and chipped off some paint. Luckily I'm not hurt, the car isnt structurally hurt at all, but it is now scratched and dented on both sides. Even the fire extinguisher is ok, but WHY am I so clumsy? I wish I didn't drive and commute for hours each day. Coming home I realize that I'm jetlagged, I'm under a great deal of pressure everywhere I go, and really my current workload isn't sustainable for another year. I'm going to need to offload some tasks. I guess vacation was a good time to figure that out.

I often wonder about that clumsy thing about my own self. It seems like I'm always denting something, or dropping or bumping or falling off of, or basically just klutzing my way through life. If I think of something handy to blame it on, I'll be sure and let you know.

I'm awfully glad that you had your vacation, and it gave you space enough to regain some clarity about what's going on in your life.

OH..and mostest goodest of luck to Craig on his interview!

I have a feeling that the pressure and stress aren't going to clear up much, for any of us, until the economy relaxes and lets us all breathe a little easier. Until then...yoga...tai chi...something...either that, or there are going to be lots of beta-blockers prescribed for high blood pressure, and heads are going to explode. Until said time of lessening stress, I think that lots of sex and yoga should help..that's my prescription!